2. Clear Out Your Phone –This is a good idea to do before you take off. Trust me, you’ll need as much memory to store all of your new photos once you land in your new found home. Either delete images or videos you won’t need, upload them on youtube, save out to an external hard drive or use websites like Dropbox, Google Drive and Picasa Web to store your files.

7. Print Important Documents! Get your visa information + contacts + addresses + etc. together. Keep this in your carry-on or somewhere close to you. You might need them once you arrive for immigration or anything for that matter. You just never know.

8. Mark Important Dates – I usually keep a calendar on me or use my phone calendar app to keep tabs on dates that I need to remember (i.e. when school starts or vacation dates).

9. Inform Your Bank – Now you know why you need to create a list? I tend to forget this tiny detail until the very last minute but, it’s very important to let your bank know that you’re gone for a certain time period. Otherwise, they’ll assume fraud when they see purchases made abroad. Thus, resulting in your account being locked. Eeek!

10. Electrical Plug/Outlet Abroad – Figure out what type of electrical plug you need. Avoid bringing items that you can’t use abroad (there’s no point).